Councilors at Odds Over Budget Board's 'Personnel' Authority

East Providence City Councilor Chrissy Rossi thinks Mayor James Briden has breached the City Charter with his request to ask the Budget Commission to again handle personnel matters in the city.

Briden considers a complaint Rossi reportedly filed with the police department to be “frivolous.”

The confrontation between the two city councilors involves the investigation into Police Chief Joseph Tavares by the city manager, who placed Tavares on administrative leave, according to a story in eastbayri.com. 

“As one Council Member of the City of East Providence, it is my position that Rosemary Booth Gallogly, the Director of Finance for the State of R.I., has been baited into using the power of the State of Rhode Island to control personnel matters in the City of East Providence,” Rossi wrote Wednesday in an email exchange with The East Providence Post. 

“At this time, the city’s well qualified Human Resources Director is scrutinizing allegations through the proper channels. It is well within the purview of the HR Director of any corporation or municipality to investigate allegations of scandalous mismanagement and a thorough investigation cannot be properly conducted with the alleged wrongdoer controlling the outcome by remaining at his/her post.”

Briden injected himself into personnel matters by requesting the state reconvene the Commission, she said.

Briden, an attorney and former East Providence City Solicitor, disagrees emphatically. In denying her allegation, he said, Rossi’s complaint was “frivolous” in nature.

See the complete newspaper story by clicking here.